ltRi 1IH1. Hlil' .\RK BEIN , I)RA\(;,(t ) TOi tii S \
Iron-willed Duke William Plans His Campaign
wind blows from the north. William, with superb leadership, so controlled his men that "the
flocks and herds of the peasantry pastured unharmed," recorded a Norman. Then a westerly
permits the duke to move his fleet to St. Valery for a shorter voyage across the Channel.
assured us that our car, together with some
thirty others on the beach, would be safe.
We had just started dinner at the hotel
when the head waitress informed us that the
sea was rising rapidly under the impact of
the winds. Now it would be all right to park
on the causeway!
The wind blew so hard I could hardly stay
on my feet. But, inspired by Harold's exploit,
I reached the car, with the rising water scarce
ly six feet away. The gallant little Renault
started, although drenched with salt spray,
and I drove through almost a foot of water
now covering the only approach to the road
above. It was just in time. Twenty minutes
later we watched four cars helplessly awash
at the foot of the causeway.
EDWARD the Confessor died on January
5, 1066. "The next day," says the chron
icler known as Florence of Worcester,
"he was buried in kingly style amid the bitter
lamentations of all present."
There were by now three prime contenders
for the English throne-Duke William of
Normandy, Earl Harold of Wessex, and King
Harold Hardraada of Norway, whose ambi
tions symbolized the close connections which
had bound Normandy, England, and Scandi
navia together for generations.
Would the disputed kingdom be ruled by a
native dynasty, leaving England to her insu
larity? Would she be linked to the Germanic
north, detached from the main currents of
European civilization? Or would she fall to
the ruler of Latinized Normandy and be
nourished by a cultural renascence?
Momentous questions these, and men did
well to ponder the celestial meaning-if they
could only interpret it aright-of a "star with
hair" which suddenly appeared in the skies.
"On April 24 in this year [1066]," says
Florence of Worcester, "a comet was seen not
only in England but, it is said, all over the
world, and it shone for seven days with an
exceeding brightness."
This was what we
now know as Halley's comet-a once-in-75
years visitor due to return again in 1986.
The Bayeux Tapestry portrays it with the
Latin caption: "These men wonder at the
star."
According to the Norman chronicler
William of Jumieges, "many thought that this
portended a great change in some kingdom."
Of course, they were right.
On the very day the priests buried Edward
the Confessor, Harold was crowned King of
England in the new Abbey of Westminster,
which had been consecrated only nine days
before. His decisiveness reveals premedita
tion. Whether by a change of mind or under
duress, Edward in the end, according to the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, designated Harold
as his heir.
The quickness of Harold's act must have
taken William by surprise, but the great
feudal lords of Normandy soon pledged their
support for an invasion of England to help
their duke secure the throne. He lost no time
in preparing for the tasks ahead.
"It would be tedious to tell in detail," says
the chronicler William of Poitiers, "how bv
his prudent acts ships were made, arms and
troops, provisions and other equipment as
sembled for war, and how the enthusiasm of 231